Toglia focusing on aggressiveness, improving power at plate

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Michael Toglia is a sturdy 6-foot-5, and believes it’s time he starts hitting like it.

Toglia, a switch-hitter who is competing for an Opening Day roster spot, launched his third home run of the spring, a first-inning two-run shot off White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech during the Rockies’ 7-2 victory at Camelback Ranch.

“I wanted to be more aggressive and have intent on doing damage, because I’m a bigger guy and that’s what I should be doing,” said Toglia, who batted .163 in 45 games last season and has hit .187 with six home runs in 76 games over two seasons in the Majors.

Toglia, 25, the Rockies’ first-round Draft pick in 2019, is trying to fight his way onto the Opening Day roster, given that there is a crunch in the corner positions. Toglia has Minor League options, and will have to keep performing to figure in final decisions.

Toglia went 2-for-3, including an RBI single after a Ryan McMahon RBI triple, on Monday and has a .345 batting average and a 1.165 OPS this spring. He is showing greater aggressiveness early in counts, and when he connects with two strikes results like his homer can happen.

Toglia also drew his first walk of the spring, which is a counter to his high strikeout rate -- 10 in 29 at-bats.

“From the onset of the at-bat, he’s looking to hit, and he’s firing on pitches that are available,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Other notes from Monday

• Corner outfielder Sean Bouchard, who entered the game batting .188 in the spring, followed Toglia’s homer with his first homer.

“He had a good at-bat yesterday with a walk that got us the go-ahead run [against the Brewers], and the home run today was a good swing,” Black said. “He’s getting into the swing of things. He’s feeling good after missing a little bit of time with the oblique [early in the spring] but it seems to be back on track.”

In the reserve outfield competition, non-roster invitee Bradley Zimmer went 2-for-3 with a double, a strikeout and a walk, and is hitting .407, while Sam Hilliard doubled and singled during his 2-for-4 game and is hitting .267 since being claimed off waivers from the Orioles.

• Lefty rotation leader Kyle Freeland continued his solid spring by breezing through his first three innings without allowing a run before giving up a Paul DeJong solo homer on a mistake changeup, and yielding two runs in the fourth. Freeland struck out five against six hits.

“I had a good game plan going in, and I’m taking each step every start, every five days,” Freeland said. “It’s been paying off.”

• Righty Victor Vodnik, trying to make the bullpen, fired a scoreless inning, after giving up home runs in two of his first four Cactus League outings.

• The Rockies are using technology to get to know righty starter candidate Dakota Hudson (1-1, 6.75 ERA in three spring starts), whom they signed this winter after he appeared in Majors in parts of six seasons with the Cardinals.

Hudson has given up five runs (four earned) in his last two appearances totaling 4 1/3 innings, and was scheduled for a bullpen session Monday in the team’s performance lab after discussing specific points with pitching coach Darryl Scott.

“There were things Dakota and Darryl talked about yesterday as far as his hips, his leg drive to the plate and staying more on-line down the slope of the mound, to get the angle on his pitches in the hitting area,” said Black, who added that Scott and Brandon Stone, the Rockies’ coordinator of performance sciences, will assess the session and compare it to previous ones.

• Righty Peter Lambert (2.00 ERA in nine Cactus League innings), in a competition with Hudson and righty Ryan Feltner for the two available rotation spots (one is likely to go to the bullpen), felt in a good place mechanically after striking out two in three one-hit innings against the Cubs on Saturday.

“It’s the delivery -- just the feeling of having it all synced up,” Lambert said. “It’s hard to explain, but for me, it’s a feeling. It feels clean and efficient."

• The Rockies announced Monday that righty Tanner Gordon, who came with Vodnik from the Braves for reliever Pierce Johnson at last season’s Trade Deadline, will start Wednesday’s Cactus League game against the D-backs. Reports from Minor League camp have Black intrigued.

“He’s got a good, live fastball," Black said. "His breaking ball and delivery are good, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in person.”